No more 'iron rice bowls'

Due to an increasing number of media reports about the resignation of civil servants, including some high-level ones, and the authorities' intensified efforts to make their incomes transparent, it has been suggested that being a public servant, which was once viewed as an "iron rice bowl", is now being looked at more rationally by job seekers.

The resignation of several bureau-level officials in Shanghai and Shandong province in the first half of this year sparked much discussion about the declining attractiveness of government jobs.

However, the enormous number of candidates for this year's national civil service exam is enough to testify that government jobs are still an alluring career choice for many.